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Mike Modano retires from NHL

09/21/2011, 2:30pm MDT

By NHL.com

Mike Modano turned to social media to announce his retirement on Tuesday. Modano, the all-time leading NHL scorer among U.S.-born players, posted the news on his Facebook and Twitter accounts and also announced he will be holding a press conference Friday.

Mike Modano turned to social media to announce his retirement on Tuesday.

Modano, the all-time leading NHL scorer among U.S.-born players, posted the news on his Facebook and Twitter accounts and also announced he will be holding a press conference Friday.

"After a long summer of thinking about my future, I've come to the decision that it's time to retire as a player from the NHL," Modano wrote on his Facebook page, a link to which he also posted to his Twitter account. "There's way too many people to thank here at this time and too much to say, so I have a press conference scheduled for early Friday afternoon. Check back Friday late afternoon for more. What a great ride it's been!"

Modano played 1,499 regular-season NHL games, including 1,459 with the Minnesota/Dallas franchise, and finished his career with 561 goals and 813 assists for 1,374 points. The first pick of the 1988 Entry Draft, he made his NHL debut with the North Stars in 1989 and played 21 seasons. The native of Livonia, Mich., returned home last season to play with the Red Wings, but injuries limited him to only 40 games.

Modano won the Stanley Cup with the Stars in 1999. He holds NHL records for the most goals, points, playoff points (145) and games played by a U.S.-born player.

He also holds Minnesota/Dallas franchise records for games played in the regular season, games played in the playoffs (174), goals in the regular season (557), goals in the playoffs (58), assists in the regular season (802), assists in the playoffs (87) and points in both the regular season (1,359) and playoffs (145).

Modano was named to the NHL's All-Rookie team in 1990 and played in eight All-Star Games over his career.